Ahead of its upcoming launch, Sime Darby Beyond Auto, the distributor of BYD vehicles here in Malaysia, has now announced on social media that it will be opening the order books for the highly-awaited BYD Seal on January 19.
Pre-booking will be done via the company’s redesigned website, which will be unveiled on the same day, the company says. Similar to the Australian, Singaporean, and Thai markets, we are also expecting a three-variant line-up for the BYD Seal when it launches here in Malaysia.
The line-up kicks off with the Dynamic Standard Range model that sports a single electric motor on the rear axle that delivers 150 kW (203 hp) and 310 Nm of torque. Power is supplied by a 61.4 kWh LFP blade battery pack, which translates to an electric driving range of 460 km (WLTP).
The next rung up is the Premium Extended Range, which also features a rear-wheel drive single-motor setup, albeit with higher rated outputs at 230 kW (313 hp) and 360 Nm, courtesy of the larger and more powerful 82.5 kWh LFP battery pack. The bigger battery also means more range – BYD says the Premium variant is capable of travelling up to 570 km (WLTP) on a single charge.
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Topping the BYD Seal range here in Malaysia is likely the Performance AWD variant, which tacks on an additional motor on the front axle for all-wheel drive and additional performance of up to 530 hp and 670 Nm. You will be paying a small price in range for that extra performance, though, with the Performance AWD variant only rated for 520 km (WLTP) due to its additional motor.
All three variants share the same 7 kW on-board AC charger, taking 8.6 hours for a full charge on the Dynamic Standard Range, and 15.2 hours for the other two higher-end variants. The Premium and Performance variants also get a higher DC charging capacity at up to 150 kW (10-80% in 37 minutes), compared to the 110 kW on the Dynamic Standard Range variant.
No official pricing information has been disclosed yet, although various sales personnel at the company have suggested that it will be priced from roughly the RM180k mark for the Dynamic Standard Range, thus undercutting the Tesla Model 3 by a slight margin.
Does the “Model 3 killer” pique your fancy, and will you be placing a booking? Let us know in the comments section!
